Stellar Transformations

Qin Yu, dressed in fitted black clothes, is galloping along the highway on tall black horse, heading directly for Yan City alone. In the sky above his head, a black eagle is soaring with wings spread. It is Qin Yu’s pet Xiao Hei.

Feeling strong winds blowing on him, Qin Yu’s face is full of enjoyment.

‘Ha-ha, this feeling is really invigorating. After taking off those 200 jin of weights, my whole body feels light as if it’s floating.’ Qin Yu excitedly props his hands against the horse and does a high flip on its back. He spreads his arms, feeling the strong winds, and falls down precisely on the horse’s back.

He started training when he was 8 and has been undergoing limit training for 5 years. He has almost never wasted any time. In addition, the flesh of his whole body has been continuously absorbing internal energy and transforming. Therefore, his 5 years of training is at least equal to ordinary people’s 10 years of limit training. Qin Yu already became a veritable external expert.

His body-maneuvering skill is light, elegant and effective. His speed is fast like a cunning hare. His explosiveness, strength and so on all cannot be matched by those of ordinary experts.

‘Hah! Hah!’ Qin Yu accelerates in excitement. The horse gallops more vigorously and in an instant there is only a trail of dust left on the highway while his silhouette has already disappeared toward its far end.

******

As the horse gallops, the scenery on the sides of the road is quickly left behind Qin Yu. He suddenly decelerates and stops. Then he gets off the horse and runs directly toward a village. Qin Yu goes to town for a stroll twice every year. The first time he went to town from Misty Villa, he had a drink of water in this village and became friends with some local children.

‘Xiao Shan, Xiao Lu,’ calls Qin Yu as soon as he reaches the entrance of the village.

‘Xiao Yu.’ A robust youth with an iron shovel in his hands runs out in excitement. This youth is bare-chested, revealing his chunks of muscle. These muscles contain in them an explosive strength. This is none other than Qin Yu’s good friend Tie Shan, who just turned 16 this year.

‘Brother Yu.’ A little girl with a ponytail also runs out and abruptly embraces Qin Yu. This little girl is Tie Shan’s little sister Xiao Lu, who is only 8 this year.

‘Xiao Yu, how are you?’ Some villagers around him also enthusiastically greet him. They all know Qin Yu fairly well. After all, he has visited here several times. Qin Yu is dressed differently from normal people but he treats other people extremely nicely. And this is the reason why the villagers like Qin Yu.

‘Xiao Lu, Da Shan, I haven’t come here for about a half year. How are you doing?’ inquires Qin Yu after them with a smiling expression as he strokes Xiao Lu’s head tenderly.

‘We’re doing fine.’ Tie Shan says laughingly. Next to him, Xiao Lu, with her big round black eyes brightening, suddenly says: ‘Brother Yu, are you thirsty? I’m going to fetch water.’ As she finishes saying, she runs directly towards her home without waiting for Qin Yu to reply.

When Qin Yu first came to this village at that time, it was because he was thirsty and wanted a drink of water.

‘Da Shan, I’m going to town right now. If you want to buy something, I’ll help you buy it,’ asks Qin Yu. As soon as Tie Shan hears that, he thinks for a while and says with an uncomfortable smile: ‘I want to buy a somewhat good battle knife. I’ve saved nearly enough money to buy one.’

‘There’s no need to mention your savings. I’ll buy one and give it to you as a present.’ Qin Yu says laughingly while patting Tie Shan’s shoulder. Tie Shan is a bit stupefied. Then he says immediately: ‘How is it going to be alright? A good battle knife is very expensive. How can...’

‘Brother Yu, water.’ Xiao Lu runs up to him while holding a bowl of water.

Qin Yu receives the water. With his eyes narrowed, he smiles and looks at Xiao Lu: ‘You couldn’t have done me a favor for no reason. Say it. What do you want your brother Yu to do for you?’ In a glance Qin Yu sees through the mind of this crafty little girl Xiao Lu.

‘Oops ... I’m caught!’ Xiao Lu winks her big eyes several times and blushes. Then she says uncomfortably: ‘Brother Yu, I want a cloth doll. That kind with a big red flower embroidered on the head!’

Qin Yu laughingly squeezes Xiao Lu’s nose once and says: ‘I got it. A cloth doll with a big red flower embroidered on the head right? Don’t worry. I’ll definitely buy it for you.’ Qin Yu likes this little girl Xiao Lu very much. When he first came here, she was only 5 years old.

After drinking the water, Qin Yu returns the bowl to Xiao Lu and says to her and Tie Shan: ‘Da Shan, Xiao Lu, I’m going first. When I get back I’m going to bring you the things you want.’

‘Xiao Yu, this money.’ Tie Shan is holding some copper coins in his hands, not knowing what to say. However, Qin Yu is already running to the horse. After a jump, which is about 2 to 3 m high, he sits firmly on the horse’s back. Then, after a neigh of the horse, Qin Yu disappears in front of them.

‘Good bye, brother Yu.’ Xiao Lu immediately waves her little hand.

......

After entering Yan City, Qin Yu goes directly to the East Vanquishing Prince mansion.

‘Uncle Li, help me take care of the horse!’ With a push of the hands, Qin Yu immediately jumps into the air from the horse’s back. Then he does a flip and falls down. His movements are extremely fast. A black eagle, which has been staying in the sky, dives down and stands directly on Qin Yu’s shoulder. It is Xiao Hei.

When the 2 men who are guarding the East Vanquishing Prince mansion see Qin Yu, they immediately kneel down and say respectfully: ‘Third Prince.’

Every time Qin Yu went to Yan City he returned to the Prince’s mansion so the people in the mansion all know him and know that he comes to the mansion perhaps because he wants to see if his father is at home or not.

The mansion’s Manager Ge Min immediately walks out with a smiling expression: ‘Xiao Yu, His Highness has not returned yet.’ Ge Men says immediately. He knows every time Qin Yu returned to the mansion he wanted to inquire after the Prince so he tells him in advance this time.

‘Oh.’ Qin Yu is slightly dejected. Then he says with a smile: ‘Grandpa Ge, take me to the Weapon Storing Warehouse.’

‘Then you follow me,’ says Ge Min with a smile.

The Weapon Storing Warehouse is not something ordinary people can enter. The mansion has several secret places such as the Weapon Storing Warehouse and the Secret-Book Archive. But there are some people who can enter these places as they wish. They are Prince Qin De, the 3 younger princes, Xu Yuan, Lian Yan and the mansion’s manager. Not even the vice-manager of the mansion is eligible to come into these places.

They go through various pavilions, terraces, towers, richly ornamented structures, winding corridors and paths, and one courtyard after another.

The princely mansion occupies a very large area. Only after following Ge Min for a long time does Qin Yu come into a secret underground warehouse. This secret underground warehouse is called the Weapon Storing Warehouse. Each and every weapon in this warehouse is an outstanding one.

‘Xiao Yu, you can choose whichever weapon you want. I’m leaving first,’ says Ge Min laughingly.

‘Grandpa Ge, please help me prepare a battle knife, a black iron battle knife! Also, prepare a cloth doll for me. Just remember one thing -- the doll must have a big red flower embroidered on its head.’ Qin Yu hurriedly entrusts those things to Ge Min. Yan City is very big. Qin Yu knows where to buy a battle knife, but he does not know where to buy a cloth doll. Therefore, it is easiest to let the mansion’s people prepare them.

Ge Min is startled: ‘A cloth doll? And even with an embroidered big red flower?’ He examines Qin Yu all over several times. However, no matter how Ge Min looks at him, he cannot imagine that Qin Yu who has the same height as his actually likes cloth dolls. But because Qin Yu asked him to do so, he cannot refuse either.

‘Alright, Xiao Yu, because you like cloth dolls, and even like embroidered big red flowers, I’ll send someone to buy one for you,’ says Ge Min laughingly. After that he walks out of the Weapon Storing Warehouse immediately.

‘This ...’ Qin Yu is stupefied for a moment. ‘I like cloth dolls, and even like embroidered big red flowers?’ Only after a while can he react. He immediately turns around and says hurriedly: ‘Grandpa Ge ...’ But by this time Ge Min has already left.

There is nothing Qin Yu can do. What is the matter? He himself is unexpectedly mistaken for a lover of dolls with big red flowers embroidered on the heads.

‘It’s not important.’ Qin Yu gives an unconcerned laugh then starts to look for that Yuchang sword carefully. This Weapon Storing Warehouse has several tens weapons, which all belong to the so-called Xian grade of goods. Most of them are made from some good minerals taken from the Wilderness.

Generally, weapons are divided into mundane-grade ones and Xian-grade ones.

Mundane-grade items are made from or of minerals and materials which can be found easily on the Qian Long continent. Xian-grade items are extremely hard to acquire. They either are found in the Wilderness or are weapons made from or of materials taken from the bodies of the Wilderness’s magical beasts. Of course, the mundane grade is divided into high, middle and low. Likewise, the Xian grade is divided into high Xian grade, middle Xian grade and low Xian grade.

The Yuchang sword is a low Xian-grade short sword. However, among all the weapons it is the only short sword.

‘Yuchang sword,’ says Qin Yu as he looks at the short sword before him. This sword is 1 cun wide and a bit over 7 cun long. It is pitch-black and unnoticeable. It is very hard to see a sword which is so black. ‘Perhaps this is the special characteristic of the meteoric metals?’

Qin Yu is holding the short sword. This pitch-black Yuchang sword basically does not reflect light. If it is used to kill someone in the dark, it will be absolutely difficult for the target to detect it.

Whizz!

Qin Yu makes a very rapid movement with his hand. As he finishes the Yuchang sword has already disappeared completely. It has disappeared in his hand.

Qin Yu has been practicing the ‘Concealing Sword, Drawing Sword’ principle of the Yu Clan’s One Sword for about 2 years. He has almost mastered the Concealing Sword move. When he conceals the short sword, other people basically have no way to detect it. Moreover, this Yuchang sword is only a bit longer than 7 cun, it does not affect Qin Yu’s close-quarters combat at all.

Suddenly Qin Yu right hand makes a movement. 2 sharp noises can be heard in the air but Qin Yu’s right hand is still empty as before.

If there was an expert here, he would have been able to see that in a moment just now the Yuchang sword appeared in Qin Yu hand, he made 2 extremely fast cuts with it then it instantly disappeared in his hand. His speed was extremely fast. This goes to show the speed of Concealing Sword.

‘The sword concealing method of the Yu Clan’s One Sword is really outstanding but the Concealing Sword part in the Ancestral Dragon Art book says it will take 10 years to reach my current level in Concealing Sword while I only needed 2 years to achieve it. It looks like the description in the Ancestral Dragon Art book isn’t completely correct.’ Qin Yu sighs and says emotionally.

He was wrong.

Ordinary experts will really need 10 years, but the flesh on Qin Yu’s body has been absorbing internal energy so its flexibility and toughness have become extremely high. Moreover, Qin Yu often trains the speed and sensitivity of his fingers, giving him an exceptionally good control of his muscles. With good muscle flexibility and muscle toughness, add to that a good control of muscles, and Qin Yu can easily conceal the Yuchang sword by means of his muscles. How could ordinary experts train their bodies to this extent?’

It is very normal that his 2 years of practicing the Concealing Sword is equal to ordinary people’s 10 years. It can be seen from this that Zhao Yunxing was absolutely right when he said Qin Yu had to train to have a perfect body first then practice offensive techniques later.

Grinding the ax does not harm the firewood chopping skill -- It is this principle!

There are other weapons in the Weapon Storing Warehouse such as knives, spears, sticks and so on but Qin Yu simply does not care about them.

‘It’d be better if there was a pair of gloves to enhance the knuckles’ offensive force.’ Qin Yu looks around carefully. Even though his knuckles have a powerful offensive force, and are also extremely tough, he cannot fight users of extremely good weapons with bare hands. If his knuckles are protected by a good pair of gloves then he will be able to fight them.

.

End of b1c18.